January 26, 2005

Hot 97 Announces Suspension, Sprint and McDonalds Pulling Ads

EDIT: Journalist Oliver Wang says this suspension "seems like smoke and mirrors," and hip-hop radio legend Davey D tells us "Right now Miss Jones and her morning team are suspended, but trust me folks thatís only for show. They are hoping this incident will go away and people will forget"

I have to agree, and I STRONGLY encourage everyone to keep the pressure on sponsors and shareholders, and keep watching this situation closely. It is quite possible the morning show is only getting a little paid vacation, and they're hoping we won't notice when they come back in two weeks.

At 6 AM this morning, Hot 97 announced the Miss Jones morning show is "suspended indefinitely". I posted the announcement here as an mp3.

This morning from 6 to 10 was hosted by someone named "E-Bro" who took calls on-air about the controversy. Most of the calls they took were in favor of bringing Miss Jones back. Many people have reported to me that when they called to speak against bringing the show back they were screened out.

They also played Jin's dis track repeatedly. EDIT: They also nterviewed Jin, the audio is here courtesy of holla-front.com. Also posted by alljin.com here. Jin stood firmly his belief that the Miss Jones morning show should not be brought back on the air.

They're not saying whether the suspension is permanent or temporary, or whether it is a paid suspension. Or whether the suspension includes Miss Info.

An ad for Miss Jones' special "smackfest finals" on Friday morning at Caroline's comedy club aired minutes before the announcement, but now they have said that event is "postponed."

Meanwhile, both Sprint and Mcdonalds have announced they will suspend their advertising:

New STATEMENT FROM SPRINT

* Because the tsunami parody content on the Hot 97 program was in violation of our company standards, Sprint intends to suspend its advertising on the station.

The following information was issued previously:

* Sprint does NOT have any connection to the Tsunami Song aired on Hot 97 FM.

* Sprint strongly objects to any communication or other effort making light of the devastation of the tsunami disaster. The content of the "Tsunami song" clearly runs contrary to Sprint's commitment to diversity and inclusion, and is not in any way supported or condoned by Sprint. Needless to say, our hearts go out to the tsunami victims and their families -- for this and other reasons, the Sprint Foundation and our associates have worked together since the tsunami tragedy to raise funds for disaster relief efforts and will continue to do so.

*Sprint has purchased advertising time on Hot 97 but was incorrectly identified as a sponsor of the segment of the show in which the song was referenced. In any case, Sprint was unaware and had no connection to the content of the "Tsunami Song."

*Sprint has expressed our strong concern about this content to the radio station. The station has issued a public apology and appears to have disciplined the responsible parties. Sprint continually evaluates acceptable content against our own guidelines and we will continue to monitor the process with all outlets in which we advertise.

and from Mcdonalds:

Thank you for taking the time contact McDonald's. We appreciate the
opportunity to respond to you regarding the recent events involving
hosts from the Hot 97 morning radio program in New York.

First, McDonald's does not support programs that discriminate or are
insensitive to the plight of people suffering from devastating events.
Starting immediately, McDonald's will indefinitely suspend advertising
on the Hot 97 morning show.

It's also important to know that Ronald McDonald House Charities,
McDonald's Corporation and the McDonald's family around the world have
donated more than two million dollars to the Tsunami relief efforts.

We take these matters very seriously and will continue to work together to help victims of this devastating disaster.

Again, thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to your
concerns.